Muppet Wiki:External link guidelines

Muppet Wiki articles can include links to outside web pages. External links can provide further information, research or media that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright, amount of detail or is not suitable for inclusion in a Muppet-focused encyclopedic article. Examples of good external links include official websites of companies or performers, press releases, performer interviews, details production notes, product/ production reviews or encyclopedic articles with information on the subject outside the Muppet-focus found within Muppet Wiki.

Some external links are welcomed, but it is not Muppet Wiki's purpose to include a comprehensive and oversized list of all links related to every topic. Pages should not be linked to from a Muppet Wiki article unless their inclusion is justified.

If the site or page to which you want to link includes information that is not yet a part of the article, consider using it as a source and integrating the useful and relevant information into the article and citing the page appropriately. If the page includes unique information that could be useful to a reader and can not be integrated into the article appropriately then an external link could be added to the article.

Contents

How to add a link

You can add links to other websites by putting one bracket around the site's address, like this: [http://www.muppets.com]. That'll look like this: [1].

You can add a description to the link by adding a space before the description, like this: [http://www.muppets.com Official Muppets website]. That comes out like this: Official Muppets website.

The most common inclusion of external links is a list at the end of an article. The standard format for these is to have a level 2 header (i.e. == Header ==) named "External Links" followed by a bullet list of links.

What to link

There are several things which should be considered when adding an external link.

Is it accessible to the reader?

Is it proper in the context of the article (useful, tasteful, informative, factual, etc.)?

Is it a functional link, and likely to continue being a functional link?

Each link should be considered on its merits, using the following guidelines. As the number of external links in an article grows longer, assessment should become stricter.

Links normally added

Articles an company, person, web site, or other entity should link to the official site (if one exists).

Sites with other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article, such as interviews.

Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to copyright issues, amount of detail or other reasons.

Links normally avoided

Links to sites that primarily exist to sell products or services.

Any site that does not provide a unique resource beyond what the article would contain.

Any site that misleads the reader by use of factually inaccurate material or unverifiable research.

Links mainly intended to promote a website.

Links to sites that require payment to view the relevant content.

Links to search engine results pages.

Multiple links to individual sub-pages or sections of the same site (without clear and substantive reasoning).

Shopping links and conflicts of interest

Please don't add links to Amazon or other commercial sites. It's nice to help other Muppet fans find the cool products that are available, but we don't want to look like we're trying to sell things. We also don't want to open the possibility to people posting sponsored Amazon links, or links to their own Ebay store. If a product is currently in print and available, you can note that in the article. If that inspires readers to buy the product, then they can find it online themselves.

Due to the rising status in the Muppet online community, there is a great temptation to use Muppet Wiki to advertise or promote links. This includes both commercial and non-commercial sites. You should avoid adding a link or page on a new or minor website that you own, maintain or represent - even if the guidelines otherwise imply that it should be linked. If the link is relevant and informative, please consider mentioning it on the talk page and let neutral and independent wiki editors decide whether to add it. This can help avoid disputes of spamming and "conflict of interests".

Longevity of links

It is very important to consider if the link is likely to remain relevant and acceptable to the article in the foreseeable future. For example, it is not useful to link to a homepage that often changes and merely happens to have a relevant picture or article on its front page at the moment. Similarly, be wary of citing an unstable page as a source.

Dead links

Links to dead URLs in a list of external links are of no use to articles. Such dead links should either be removed, or updated with archived versions, which may be found at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.